Oh, total badassery indeed. Take it while it’s hot, kids.

Of course this Iron Man anime is totally badass—Japan’s made cartoons about dudes in robot suits for over 40 years. And of course, Iron Man is blowing up a bunch of other dudes in crazy robot suits.

That bad guy is creepy—like a cross between M. Bison and this dude I saw on the cover of an anime in Blockbuster when I was 5 and gave me nightmares for a while and Guyver.

The show’s for the Japanese market by the animation giant Madhouse, so except for Iron Man looking like Iron Man and beating arse, it won’t be a whole lot like the all-American Iron Man we know. Still, I seriously hope they consider re-importing it so I don’t have to download fansubs.

But uh, don’t <a href=”even ask what they’re doing to Wolverine. It’s just better that way. [Topless Robot via Technabob]

Whiplash (Mickey Rourke) sports a power pack on his chest that looks similar to the one used by Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.). “The technologies are definitely related, and that’s part of the core theme of the film,” says director Jon Favreau.

The character’s alter ego, Ivan Vanko, is a Russian who, Favreau says, “has constructed his own version of a suit.” Among the creative alterations: a pair of whips, powered by the suit’s glowing chest piece, expected to keep Iron Man cracking. Whiplash “is going to light them up,” says Rourke.

This first image of the character shows the villain making an appearance at the Monaco Historic Grand Prix.

[USA Today]

Here’s the first shot of Tony Stark in the Iron Man suit from the set of next year’s sequel. Or at least part of the suit.

Robert Downey Jr. appears to be taking a break here, wearing only the top half of the suit, but it’s still cool to see how he actually gets the thing on in a candid shot from the set. [People via Ain't It Cool News]

Here it is, the first official photo from Iron Man 2. Tony Stark is looking concerned because he ran out of bourbon while a wall of Iron Men look on. I can’t wait.

Director Jon Favreau says that Iron Man 2 will take place six months after Tony Stark tells the world that he’s Iron Man, and they want “play with idea” of a superhero who’s open about his identity. “But it obviously has consequences-in his relationships, on the team. There are a lot of areas we can explore.” Yes, like what if all of his suits got together and formed a dance troupe?

In the photo we see the original suit used to break out of his hellish imprisonment, his Mark II armour and two sets of the Mark III—the old and busted one from fighting Iron Monger and a brighter, shinier one that’s all cleaned up. I know I’ve still got Terminator, Star Trek and Harry Potter and Transformers this summer, but I want Iron Man 2 to come out now. [USA Today]

[Thanks Karl]

Even so, it was June when the first movie capable of BD-Live was released in Australia. The movie was Men In Black, and the bonus, digital content was in the form of “a BD-Live multi-player Interactive Trivia Game, as well as exclusive downloadable theatrical and home entertainment previews and a FAQ about BD-Live functionality”. In other words, nothing very exciting. In fact, plugging in the movie today, there’s no BD-Live trivia game, the exclusive trailers are for movies like Monster House and Open Season and the previews all seem old and out of date as well.

But in the scheme of things, Men In Black was small fry. A testing of the waters, if you will. The first major new release Blu-ray release featuring BD-Live was Iron Man, and it proved so popular that it crashed Paramount’s servers. On offer: An Iron Man quiz. Or more precisely, a selection of quizzes testing your knowledge of various aspects of the film. But the catch for this seemingly interesting approach to live online content is in the menu – alongside the option for knowledge quizzes are the unselectable options of creating your own quizzes, selecting the highest rated quizzes and other user-generated content themes. And that’s disappointing, especially considering that there’s been no update to the bonus content since the film was released last year.

Of course, here in Australia, we’re lucky if we even get the BD-Live content at all. Warner Bros, in particular have shunned BD-Live in Australia so far. Even their crowning glory of 2008, The Dark Knight, lacked any BD-Live content for the Australian release. Of course, the US release featured an online discussion with Christopher Nolan, which ultimately proved how much the technology is struggling to find its feet.

Perhaps the problems stem from the fact that unlike the Blu-ray format itself, BD-Live has no standard, no rules on what it can or cannot be. That leaves each studio to come up with their version of how BD-Live should be implemented, and that creates problems. Disney, for example, has jumped on the BD-Live bandwagon, announcing that all their classic releases will feature the online component. The first release to feature it was Sleeping Beauty, and it was in the form of online chat while watching the film, online trivia and the ability to embed a short video from a webcam into the film.

Sony, on the other hand, have tried a few different tacts. Starship Troopers 3 lets you insert a still photo of yourself into certain scenes of the film, which are poorly animated and distracting. 21, on the other hand, lets you play interactive Blackjack with other viewers around the world.

Universal pictures sees BD-Live as a jack of all trades. Cindy McCulloch, marketing director at NBC Universal believes that BD-Live content could be anything, including “deleted scenes, movie trailers or on-set interviews; Interactive features such as polls and games will be available to play or save on your player for later; setting up a buddy list and share your favourite clips and content with your friends; or create your own video, audio and text commentary and chat live while you watch the film.”

But not everyone looks at BD-Live as a worthwhile feature. Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of Dreamworks doesn’t believe BD-Live is something can enhance their films, considering their target audience is generally too young: “It’s not our audience – if you think about our movies, they’re mostly films for the family. In particular they’re films that parents purchase for children.”

Perhaps the best implementation of BD-Live so far comes not from a movie, but from John Mayer’s Where The Light Is Blu-ray concert release. Instead of a gimmicky implementation like live chat with John Mayer, or a game, or being able to put your photo on stage with the singer himself, the BD-Live content is a backstage recording of one of his songs. Of course, once you’ve downloaded the song, there’s little incentive to use BD-Live again, but expanding on that idea (exclusive video blogs from the tour, more backstage clips) could be the shot in the arm BD-Live needs.

Still, the majority of studios are committed to providing discs with BD-Live content. And while its current implementation may not be all that desirable, well-maintained or even entertaining, it’s important to remember that the technology is still in its infancy. The real question is whether or not one we’ll see the studios create a truly engaging way of offering bonus content online for the Blu-ray format at all. Obviously we’re hoping that they do – as the default high-definition medium now, Blu-ray’s success hinges on the extra value it can offer consumers.

[BD-Live on Gizmodo]

• Repulsor Air – Blows air with CO2 air pump on hip and hose back to his hand.
• Repulsor Missile – Using CO2 air pump can also launch a paper missile.
• Repulsor Sensor/Light – A magnetic switch sensor lights his repulsor hand light and fades out and in his glowing eyes. Arduino handles this effect.
• Repulsor Sound Effect(s) – Originally not working. Worked around problem by using right-mouse, middle-mouse button and configured Elightenment17 to playback sound effects using Mplayer script. Mouse buttons activated by Arduino Digital output triggered by sensors.
• Arc Reactor – A LED night light from Costco embedded in his chest.
• BeagleBoard: Powerful Computer – With BeagleBoard already running in JARVUS box on my son’s back need to add other features. Possibilities: Web cam, mobile router with hotspot and a head-mounted display, VoIP, streaming video of Iron Man view.
• Arduino: Super Input/Output Board – Handles repulsor effects but can add other sensors to enable even cooler special effects!!

And in the off chance that the LED arc reactor ever fails, we hear the suit is powered by backup generators that run on pure adorableness. [Nice job Enrique!]